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On 2 November 2023, storm Ciarán raged across the coast of North Holland, with Amsterdam only narrowly escaping from being flooded. Thanks to an observant Waternet employee who noticed a malfunctioning floodgate, the city had a lucky escape. The resulting commotion, however, was soon forgotten. This raises the following question: How seriously must things go wrong before we take action? Bebe Blanco Agterberg (1995) took this as her point of departure for her new photographic research into visual representation and the politics of remembrance.
For this project, Agterberg delved into the Dutch relationship with water and the role visual representation plays in it. The struggle against the water is deeply embedded in Dutch culture, partly due to widespread images of previous flood disasters. Culminating in the Delta Works flood protection system, the way in which the country conquered this struggle has become a source of pride. But is this mentality of struggle and control still relevant today? Or should we alter our approach so we can stop fighting nature and instead start working with it, as also advised by the scientific world?
At Prospects, Agterberg is showing a set of five photographic tile tableaus inspired by traditional Delft Blue tiles. The two scenes on the left contain images of the past, compiled from both archival material of floods and Agterberg’s own photographs of the culture of remembrance surrounding these disasters. The two panels on the right represent the future and focus on new types of water management. In the middle section, the whole swirling mass comes together. Agterberg thus demonstrates how we might transform the Dutch mentality towards water in order to be better prepared for rising sea levels.
Text: Milo Vermeire
Translated from Dutch by Marie Louise Schoondergang (The Art of Translation)